I love GarageBand and have used it for many, many years. If you want a simple but powerful DAW, this is the best it gets. However, since I make my own loops and chop them in the timeline, a powerful tag editor is needed in order for the program to see and correctly use the loops. Apple used to have its own loop utility with which you could set genre, transients, and set tempo automatically in relation to how many beats the loop had, but it no longer makes this useful program, and it won’t run beyond macOS Sierra. Loop Editor 2, the only comparable program that does the same job, can no longer be purchased since the company that made it went out of business. Another program that I uses requires that I upgrade to Mojave, but that will kill the loops utility. If there was a (free) program that could do this, I would be able to make music and keep the other important program happy. Other than that, highly recommended! Peace.

I’ve been using GarageBand on my phone for a while and hadn’t thought of using it on my MacBook until I needed to use it for one of my classes. I had downloaded it onto my computer and started messing around with it, and after a few hours I started to understand how it works. I realized it’s easier to use this app on my computer than on my phone, too. The layout is straightforward and allows me to find everything and see everything I need all at once. It’s easier to grab and adjust the notes on each MIDI track, and the track controls are all together, so it’s faster to get to them. There’s a wider variety of controls and settings to use when editing each track or the master. The electronic instruments are way more organized and stay open on the side in case I want to change one of the track instruments multiple times. It’s faster than changing the instruments on my phone. It’s simple and easy to use, while still having a ton of options displayed at the same time, making it a fast trip between the controls. This is a great app for starters since it’s completely free. The electronic instruments are also free, but they may take up a bit of space if you download everything onto your computer. You could figure out how to use the app on your own or watch tutorial videos to understand it faster. I definitely recommend this app for beginners and creators if they don’t want to spend the money on some fancy software.

I see so many mixed reviews, if you are reading comments, and think, wow why a 4.0 rating? I believe there are a few reasons! Number 1. Because Garage Band is a free app, so people who are not familiar with DAWs or similar workflows, will download it and complain that it didn’t work correctly, because they, either didn’t understand what the app was designed to do, because they just have little knowledge of Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)halo do. But if you downloaded this app, open the built in sunths, drums, guitar, bass, and a ton of other amazing FULKLY playable instruments, you would quickly see that this thing is amazing! I love the “Smart Drummer” capabilities! I can lay down a track, Lets say I have two guitars, one hard panned Laft and one hard panned right, one guitar that is a FAKE TAKE teack that is dead center opened… Then I lay down bass …I can add a drummer, tell the drummer what track he should listen to to get the feel off the song, and BOOM you have a drummer, that NEVER takes a smoke break, never has fights with his “girl friend” and is NEVER late… I am only saying if you just installed the app for ONLY the synthAlchemy it would be STUPID not to give the app 5 stars …plus the hundred of presets in EVERY cat. I thank the DEVELOPERS and the TEAM it takes to make this app, BETTER than anything out there… What is amazing if Garage Band doesn’t cover your needs…and I get that, because once im past the demo phase I need a few more options… BUT I CAN OPEN Logic Pro and BOOOOOM!!!! Everything comes right over!!! My God Garage band should 20 5/5

I have been using DAWs for years, and I hoped that Garageband would be a approachable, yet powerful alternative to my main, FL Studio. Dead wrong. This app will treat you like you’ve never used a DAW in your life. Beyond that, it treats you like you’re even not good enough to learn what things do. It provides settings for the synthesizers so sporadically that you’d think it’s schizophrenic. It gives you LFO knobs like you know what those are, but no echo knobs. What? Like the people they’re catering this to are going to know what an LFO is or how to control them, but not an echo? Some instruments do have it, but, again, it’s so sporadic that you really can’t count on being able to dial in any setting, so there’s really no power here at all.The worst part is how it forces everything into loops. I tried to just copy some notes and paste them in the front of my existing loop, but it made a new loop anyway, and refused to allow me to simply copy and paste notes in the loop I was currently editing. It forces things into loops because, guess what? You’re not good enough to use anything but loops, loser. This app was such a huge insult to my intelligence and experience that I put it down immediately, and I’m honestly kind of beside myself after this because I’ve never had a program treat me this way. To even call this an entry level DAW is kind of insulting. It doesn’t teach you things a DAW should, in limits you in such a way that it is a direct insult to your intelligence. Use anything else.